Theft from kids baseball league results in prison sentence

Tuesday

Nov 27, 2007 at 12:01 AMNov 27, 2007 at 6:28 PM

Gary A. Gaulding spent the money he stole on keeping up appearances. And he has little hope of ever paying back the $140,004.59 he took from the Springfield Southwest Baseball Association, said U.S. District Judge Jeanne Scott Monday as she sentenced him to 21 months in prison. Gaulding, who pleaded guilty to one count of fraud in June, must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence.

Bruce Rushton

It didn’t go for cocaine or to a mistress in Brazil.

“I wish it were that exciting,” said assistant U.S. attorney Patrick Hansen.

Gary A. Gaulding spent the money he stole on keeping up appearances. And he has little hope of ever paying back the $140,004.59 he took from the Springfield Southwest Baseball Association, said U.S. District Judge Jeanne Scott Monday as she sentenced him to 21 months in prison. Gaulding, who pleaded guilty to one count of fraud in June, must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence.

“Frankly, sir, you are living beyond your means and you’re in debt up to your eyebrows,” the judge said.

Scott said Gaulding owes more than $200,000 to the Internal Revenue Service, which would get paid before the baseball association if Gaulding ever has any money beyond his living expenses. As part of his sentence, Scott ordered that Gaulding, once released, receive permission from his probation officer before getting any line of credit worth more than $200.

Gaulding once owned a home alongside The Rail golf course, but he sold it in 2003 after the bank foreclosed. He favored expensive cars and fine cigars. He has been living in a rented home near Illini Country Club valued at nearly $500,000 by the Sangamon County supervisor of assessments.

Gaulding’s lawyer noted that his client had always worked, but Scott wasn’t impressed. There are gaps in his employment history, the judge said, and he started stealing from the youth baseball league after losing his job at company owned by his father-in-law.

“You’ve had jobs, but you’ve not done well at a number of them,” Scott told him.

It could have been worse for the baseball association.

Gaulding took more than $160,000, prosecutors said, but he came up with $23,000 to pay part of the money back. Peter Wise, Gaulding’s lawyer, said he did not know where the money came from.

Gaulding, who has worked in the insurance industry, appeared on the verge of tears as he apologized to Scott before sentence was pronounced. Reading from a prepared statement, Gaulding, 50, told the judge he spent so much time on league matters that his career suffered.

“I made a mistake in allowing my involvement in the league to increase over time and to completely consume me,” Gaulding said.

Hansen told Scott the case speaks for itself.

“The defendant positioned himself, essentially, on a house of cards balanced on other people’s money,” the prosecutor said. “When you get right down to it, stealing is stealing. His status in life is gone. His reputation is history.”

Wise, however, argued that Gaulding’s case is not as simple as it might appear. Players would call him by name even away from baseball fields.

“If ever there was a case where the charge doesn’t speak for itself, it’s this one,” Wise said. “He was so noticeable that kids who played knew who he was when he walked down the halls of a middle school.”

Gaulding loved the league that he stole from, Wise said. He spent countless hours prepping fields and making sure the league ran smoothly. He should be working so that he can support his family and make restitution, Wise said.

“Absent this offense, he’s exactly the person we want in our community and our neighborhood,” Wise said. “I understand that ‘this’ is a big this.”

The theft came to light in the spring of 2006 when the baseball association’s board of directors discovered the league didn’t have enough money to pay for improvements to fields and dugouts. In a brief filed Monday, Hansen said players and their parents are victims.

“The defendant, as president of the league, and as its most visible presence, was entrusted by these kids and parents to make sure the money was used as intended,” Hansen wrote. “Instead, the defendant abused the trust that was given, and enriched himself at the expense of the players and parents.”

Bruce Rushton can be reached at (217) 788-1542 or bruce.rushton@sj-r.com.